over cabinated

[grohr]

my first batch, four beers in and all was good, fifth was over carbonated and smelled like caramel. does anybody have an answer for this? i should add my father drank it anyways, lol

 

[boydster]

How did you prime (bulk or bottle)? How long ago did you bottle? How long have they been in the fridge before you open them?

Bottle priming can result in uneven carbonation. If you bulk primed, it is possible the priming sugar wasn't mixed in completely and some bottles will be more carbonated than others. You could have a lot of CO2 in the headspace if the beer hasn't had enough time to cool, resulting in a beer that pours with a ridiculous head but little CO2 dissolved in the beer. Heck, it could even been an infection (although that is not as likely). There are a lot of reasons the beer could seem to be developing more carbonation, and without knowing your process we can only guess at the cause.

 

[grohr]

ok im am a little lost being new to this, could the answer be bulk bottling? i bottled 52 beers, this was a brewers best american amber, 15 minutes in the fridge, dad coulnt wait and drank 1 at garage temp 65, wife had 1 and was really good, malty with a clean after taste, my first same thing, dad sucked another down and said he was a little buzzed, sometimes i think he is always buzzed, popped the next and very fizzy and foaming out of the bottle a little

 

[boydster]

Bulk priming means you added all of your priming sugar to the bottling bucket and mixed it with the beer before bottling. Bottle priming means you added the sugar to each individual bottle.

When you are priming the beer, it usually needs about 3 weeks at 70* before it is ready to put in the fridge. At 65*, it might take an extra day or so, but it shouldn't drastically extend that timeline. During that time, the yeast is generating CO2 faster than the beer can absorb it into solution. Beer also has a harder time absorbing CO2 at warmer temperatures than at fridge temps. After the 3 weeks at 70*, most of the CO2 is in the headspace of the bottles. The beer will slowly absorb some of that, but it absorbs it much better once you put it in the fridge. 15 minutes, as I'm sure you are starting to realize, is not long enough for the beer to do that job, which might very well be why you had inconsistent carbonation like you described.

My usual practice is to give the beer the 3 weeks at 70, and then another 5+ days in the fridge to let it absorb the CO2 and also let any chill haze form and settle out.

 

[grohr]

thank you, i hope i can keep my father away so there will be some left in a week, lol

 

[boydster]

Haha good luck!

 

[Brewmex41]

I imagined Ben Affleck trying to pronounce carbonated when I read the thread title. Lol